Meeting of the Parliament 23 February 2023
Tomorrow marks a very sombre occasion. It is exactly one year since the invasion of Ukraine began. The twenty-fourth of February 2022 has become a date that will live in infamy. On that day, we first became aware of the tragedy that was unfolding in Europe. News of the invasion was instantly beamed across our television stations, radio airwaves and social media channels.
The shocking way in which wars are reported in our era makes the reality to which we all bear witness very real and accessible. Even so, the decision that was taken by Vladimir Putin to declare war on Ukraine sent shock waves throughout the world. Putin’s remarks were carefully orchestrated and stage managed from Moscow with the sole intention of usurping large swathes of Ukrainian territory. It was a deliberate action that has dangerous consequences for the general peace and security of Europe.
We all know that war comes with a very real human cost. I was roughly six months pregnant when I turned on the news to see a wounded pregnant woman being carried on a stretcher. The maternity hospital in Mariupol had been bombed. The wounded woman held on to her bloodied left abdomen as emergency workers carried her through the rubble. I watched on in horror as videos showed the devastation that was caused by the bombs, and all I could think about was the women and newborn babies who were in the building at the moment that the hospital was attacked. I later learned that the woman who was carried through the rubble was taken to another hospital, where the doctors tried to save her and her baby; however, neither of them made it.
The Russian ministry of defence claimed that the bombing of the hospital was justified by the presence of Ukrainian armed forces. Bombing innocent women and children can never be justified. It was a war crime, and they knew it. Even now, I cannot get out of my mind the image of that woman holding her unborn baby or the fact that their lives were cruelly ended that day. I do not think that many of us will ever truly understand the horror of the Ukraine war.
As my party’s spokesperson for children and young people, it would be remiss of me not to mention the devastating impact that the war is having on the lives of Ukrainian children. A recent report in The Daily Telegraph highlighted the horrendous reality for those attending school in Ukraine. More than 4.7 million children are enrolled to attend lessons. Those lessons are interrupted by air raid sirens instead of school bells; by power outages; and by fear and trauma instead of safety and learning. It cannot be right that those young people are seeing that as their new normal when it comes to their education and their lives.
Even more concerning is the news that has recently come out from a Yale University report, which has indicated that more than 6,000 Ukrainian children are being sent to camps that are specifically designed to expose them to Russian propaganda and are orchestrating forced adoptions into Russian families. In fact, Ukraine’s national information bureau claims that the number of children who have been deported to Russia could be more than 16,000. That is abhorrent. The removal of protected people is prohibited under article 49 of the fourth Geneva convention. Furthermore, under article 50, it is prohibited to change the personal circumstances of any child, including their nationality.
We simply cannot allow Russian aggression to define a new normality for the experiences of Ukrainian children. I therefore hope that members of this Parliament and our colleagues at Westminster and across other devolved Governments will condemn that practice in the strongest possible terms. Ukrainian children must not be forcibly removed from their families.
Just as in relation to the story that I shared earlier, it is important that we pause and reflect that almost 1,000 Ukrainian children have been killed or injured because of the war. That is a travesty, and our thoughts and prayers are with those who have lost a child during the conflict.
By all accounts, the conflict is beginning to pick up pace again as we move out of Ukraine’s harsh winter months. We must continue to do all that we can to support the people of Ukraine as they continue to defend their freedoms.
President Zelenskyy has stated:
“The United Kingdom is marching with us towards the most important victory of our lifetime. It will be a victory over the very idea of war.”
What a wonderful concept that would be for us all to embrace—a world without suffering; a world without conflict; a world where the children of tomorrow will not come to accept the ravages of war as being their new normality. As our most famous wartime Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, said,
“The salvation of the common people of every race and every land from war and servitude must be established on solid foundations”.
That is an outcome that we can all hope and pray for.
16:15